Simon & Garfunkel

I've recently slipped into a Simon & Garfunkel phase. I think I was rearranging my wardrobe and I had a sudden urge to put on Bookends, I blame my wooly cardigans. Any way it got me thinking about which of their songs I like the most and so I put together this list.

In no particular order:

The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
Flowers Never Bend in the Rainfall
Homeward Bound
Sound of Silence
I am a Rock
El Condor Pasa
A Hazy Shade of Winter
Bridge Over Troubled Water

I always feel that Elmo or Big Bird should have joined them in this video for Feelin' Groovy.

The Phenomenal Handclap Band - 'The Right One'

I like this! The Right One is the latest disco-tastic offering taken from The Phenomenal Handclap Band's new album, Form and Control, due out on February 13th.

NPR explains the background of the song here. Think Logan's Run.

[February and March tour dates]

Peter Broderick - http://itstartshear.com (spoiler alert! video feat. cute cats & ten pin bowling)

The soothing tones of Peter Broderick will be caressing our ears once again with the release of his second album on February 20th. He's called it http://www.itstartshear.com and it will have a physical release even though the name of the album might suggest otherwise. Peter explains why on http://www.peterbroderick.net/:

"How do you feel about music downloading?


It is a common question addressed to musicians and one that I have been asked several times in interviews. My response has always been that it doesn’t bother me. It is unavoidable. And in the best case someone who downloads an album and likes it might consider buying it at some point, or they might come to a concert and buy it directly from me at the merchandise table.


What does bother me about downloading is how most of the time the listener doesn’t have access to the artwork and/or text that comes along with a physical copy. Perhaps for many people this doesn’t even matter, but personally I have always felt a great satisfaction from having an image and some words by the artist to accompany and enhance the sounds. To take in the full picture as the artist intended, which in my mind includes all the liner notes and artwork as well as the music .


So, http://www.itstartshear.com was designed simply to be a place where all listeners, no matter what format they obtain the music in, can easily access all the lyrics and notes and visuals which are meant go along with the songs. And as a title, http://www.itstartshear.com serves the music well by automatically becoming a link any time the album is written about. A link to the place where people can learn all about the album, directly from the source. A link that is the album."

What a good idea. Peter talks a lot of sense.

It Starts Here (the song) I find very relaxing, that is when I can manage to zone out of thinking about work every time I hear h-t-t-p colon slash slash... Peter might be the only musician who I can forgive for including such a lyric in a song. It helps that the video features cats, throwing stones in rivers and ten pin bowling which pretty much describes my perfect kind of day. Very much looking forward to hearing the whole album.

[http://www.peterbroderick.net/]

Nick Mulvey - 'The Trellis'

If you ever want to hear beautiful guitar music, I can't recommend Nick Mulvey highly enough, the guy is so talented. Check out this interview I did with him a few years back.

Nick has been playing with the London based modern jazz group, Portico Quartet, and is now focusing on his solo career. Thanks to the thelittlestmojo.com for pointing out this lovely song of his called The Trellis.

Everyone should see this guy play at least once, amazing.

[The Trellis]

'Copper Blue' 20 years on

On hearing the news that Sugar will be performing Copper Blue in it's entirety at the San Francisco's noise pop festival next month, I just had to find my copy and give it a whirl. It's been 20 years since the album was released hence the special show and hopefully an International tour of the special show (please??). I still have my brother's CD copy but I think it's high time I committed this album to my vinyl collection.

Copper Blue is an excellent example of an album in the original definition. It flows. It works. There's a special driving timeless energy that I find so refreshing every time I listen. I used to find a similar quality in some of the early REM albums such as Automatic for the People and Out of Time. If I had to take one or two songs off the album and put them in a play list they would still sound good but if you listen to them as an album they somehow hold more power. It's almost as if you have to go to planet 'Copper Blue' to get the full experience. Instead of just having one or two great tracks there's an overall standard carefully crafted into every one of these songs. From the spine tingling chord changes of Hoover Dam (my favourite), to the feel good groove (and tribute to the Pixies) of A Good Idea to The Man on the Moon "saying Goodnight to you" bringing the album to a close. It's crammed full of so many little intricacies, subtleties and layers and yet it can still sound so simple.

I really hope to be able to see this show.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBqZHPTCV58]

'In this World'

[Listen here]

London Short Film Festival - 'Severed Dreams' & 'I Don't Have A Lot To Say'

Here is a lovely little short film about a imaginary robot friend. Directed by Ian Bucknole, it's the official video for Severed Dreams taken from the album Shoulder to the Wheel by Ruarri Joseph.

I saw this short yesterday evening at the Roxy Bar and Screen as part of the London Short Film Festival. Among a good three hours of high quality shorts they also showed the new Esben and the Witch video for Marching Song. The video features all the band members staring intently into the camera while become gradually more bruised and dishevelled looking. It's pretty gruesome stuff and fits the intensity of the music to a tee (T?). Other favourites included the incredibly complex Szofita Land by Szofita and the cute (and somewhat vicious) animated forest creatures of I Don't Have A Lot To Say directed by my friend Tony Johnson.

The London Short Film Festival comes to a close on January 15th.

Ruarri Joseph - 'Severed Dreams'

Benbo - I don't have a lot to say from Tony Johnson on Vimeo.

Dear Royal Festival Hall...

...I think you're awesome.

I like to use this place to write. I love the sense of space and they also do a mean hot chocolate and amazing concerts (sometimes free), what more could you want? I think I might have accidentally moved in.